Film on local writer goes on international film festival circuit

An independent film featuring the book tour of local writer and former newspaper reporter John Gardiner is making the rounds at various film festivals. Gardiner’s grandson, Mitchell Graszat, 19, who lives in Barrie, made a 59-minute documentary called “Memories for Sale”, based on last spring’s “Memories for Sale Book and Other Stuff Tour”, a literary tour organized Gardiner last year. Gardiner said the film has been accepted in some prestigious film festivals around the world. Graszat has been shooting films since he was eight-years-old. Gardiner pitched the idea of filming the book tour to his grandson, even though he jokes he had worries that he wouldn’t be a compelling enough of a subject to carry the documentary. Gardiner put the tour together to promote his published literary collection, Memories for Sale: Tales from a Small Town. The young filmmaker shadowed Gardiner at nearly every stop, collecting considerable content for the documentary. Seeing his life up on the screen makes Gardiner emotional. “I’ve seen the film screened now three of four times and I’ve never watched the film all the way through,” Gardiner said. “I usually have to get up and go for a break.” Gardiner tried to be as honest as he can during the readings and writings and that leaves him vulnerable. “You really put yourself out there, you really do, you sort of spill your guts and let people in on areas of your life that that they would normally not know about.” Gardiner is hoping to go back out on the road this year to highlight his book and do readings and performances. He will be the resident writer at the Kingsville Folk Festival this summer. Among the festivals where the documentary has been shown include the Dumbo Fest in New York state, Roma Prisma Fest, the online Cinema World Fest, Miami Independent Fest and Spotlight Documentary Film Awards. The documentary was shown earlier this year at the 2019 Canada Independent Film Festival in Montreal where the film won a Special Jury Award. “We didn’t win our category, but there were six films specially recognized for excellence with a special jury award and ours was one of them which is kind of a thrill,” Gardiner said. “It was kind of neat to see him go on his own,” Gardiner said. “I think he has a bright future in the world of film.”